Did investigating agencies arrest Sachin Andure under pressure to resurrect their relevance in front of the court?

The Lok Sabha Elections 2019 are approaching fast. To deflect people’s attention from the failure of demonetization, GST, farmer loan waivers, and Maratha agitation, the government has probably pressurized the CBI to arrest Sachin Prakashrao Andure. His wife recently interacted with journalists and pointed out that the ATS had allowed her husband to walk free after the initial questioning and CBI also wanted to question him. But, they arrested him and implicated him because of court’s August 20 deadline in the matter.

Another critical aspect to be focused is the Vaibhav Raut’s arrest. The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad officials arrested Nalasopara-based Raut on charges of storing weapons and bombs. The investigators also highlighted how he was associated with the Sanatan Sanstha in the past. Not just Nalasopara residents, but members of several Hindu outfits came out on streets to protest against Raut’s arrest and ATS’s narrative which is full of loopholes. Investigative agencies are already under pressure and scrutiny. The ATS recently arrested Sachin Andure from Aurangabad and handed him over to the CBI. Now, the most critical question, is Sachin Prakashrao Andure’s arrest, and the charges against him legitimate?

In the earlier charge sheet filed by the CBI, Vinay Pawar and Sarang Akolkar were named as shooters. Sachin Andure’s name was not mentioned anywhere. However, now he is being presented as the primary shooter. This is what raises doubt on the overall probe.

Arrests made to adhere to the court’s deadline

Even the high court criticized the state and central investigative agencies for their shoddy investigation in Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar murder case. Last week, the Bombay High Court said it’s not satisfied with the way the investigation in both cases is progressing.

Justice SC Dharmadhikari and Justice Bharti Dongre returned the ‘confidential report’ submitted by the CBI, Maharashtra CID, and pointed out that there’s nothing confidential in the report.

Sachin Andure’s wife said the investigative agencies had to somehow show the case’s progress to the High Court which had set August 20 as a deadline for submitting the report. Thus, her husband was arrested to be presented to the court as a murderer even when there’s no evidence against him. The ATS had failed to find anything suspicious when they searched Andure’s house. He has no criminal record from the past.

The person who had employed Sachin said he was working at the store for the last ten years and never thought he would be involved in any anti-national activities.

Are people associated with financially weaker organizations being targeted?

The investigative agencies are probably upset due to the protests organized by locals as well as other organizations after Raut’s arrest. Plus, Sanatan Sanstha was quick to offer legal aid to all the arrested persons even when they are not linked with the outfit. So, these agencies are probably targeting people connected to small organizations now. Such persons are financially weak and may not even be able to afford a lawyer to defend themselves.

“No one in my family has a criminal background. We have never visited a court or police station. My brother is being framed in the murder case,” said Pravin Andure, the brother of arrested alleged accused Sachin Andure.

“The earlier charge sheet submitted by the CBI before the court suggested Vinay Pawar and Sarang Akolkar had shot Dabholkar. Now, how can they claim it was Sachin Andure,” said Virendra Ichalkaranjikar.

I know my husband Sachin since our college days. He is a secular person and worked at a Nizam Bazar (Aurangabad) based cloth store. Sachin will never commit such a crime. They have framed him, and allegations made against him are false. There should be a fair investigation in this matter,” said Sheetal Andure.

The Dabholkar murder case investigation still faces a big question mark. Now, the agencies have added another name to the list of alleged killers. The sketch of killers issued by the police after the murder does not match any of the arrested accused. The entire investigation seems to be heading in the wrong direction. On whose instructions are the agencies trying to implicate innocents?” said senior advocate Sanjeev Punalekar.

Sachin Andure and his family is my tenant for several years. His daughter is three months old. I found him very peaceful and not at all a Hindu hardliner. He worked at a cloth store, and his behavior with everyone was perfect. We think he has been framed in the case,” said Andure’s homeowner Rajbhau Shinde.

While interrogating Vaibhav Raut and other two accused, they named Sachin Andure as someone involved in Dabholkar murder case. We gave the information to the CBI, and they arrested him,” said DCP (ATS), Dhananjay Kulkarni.

The author of this article, Unmesh Gujarathi, is DabangDunia’s Resident Editor (Mumbai).

The article was initially published in Dabang Dunia’s August 20, 2018 edition.

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